The Light From Which You Came (Levi x Petra request)
by Suddenlyordinary
Summary: This is a highly demanded fanfiction for the ever so popular, Levi x Petra. As is well known, young Petra Ral was struck down during one of the missions outside the wall, but what will happen to the grieving corporal when he learns what Hanje has done to desecrate the meaning of death, and watch as he makes a decision that will make or break him.
1. Prologue

Author's note: Hey there everyone! This is Gumi. I'm transferring this from a different website as it was highly requested. I don't own any of these characters (sadly) nor do I actually ship Levi x Petra. But hey. To each his own. I'm gonna do it anyway! Please let me know what you think, and enjoy. :)

* * *

Levi knelt in the grass before her grave, a bottle of wine placed on the grave, a flower beside it. The name was marked in a dark gold against the gray stone of the cross. Petra Ral, Member of the Survey Corps Special Operations Squad. A black cloak was drawn over his shoulders, and he sat there in the early morning light, holding it tightly around himself. The wind brushed his hair against his face, and the light danced on the leaves around him. He could still hear her, still see her riding across the grassy fields on her horse, cloak billowing in the wind, her hair tossed by a rushing wind, that ever-burning fire in her eyes. A pillar of strength and goodness, beautiful and powerful, a symbol of the light she had finally found. In death, she had finally found the light to which she belonged, carried by the Wings of Freedom to her final glory. _Wherever you are now Ral, I will use your death as fuel for my own fire. Your soul will stay by my side, keeping me strong._ Levi pulled the cloak tighter around himself, but not because of the cold. Looking down at the grass, leaves falling all around him in the dawning sunlight, the Corporal allowed himself to grieve alone. He would avenge her, and all his team. Oluo, Erd, Petra, Gunter. He would avenge them in every titan he felled, every step he made for humanity. Alone in the breaking sunlight, Corporal Levi allowed himself to cry in the light, the wine sparkling in the sun. _If I had been there, would she be here? Would Oluo still be strutting through the halls, Erd and Gunter still riding their steeds beside him beyond the wall?_ There was no way to know. _Where was I when you needed me most?_

 ** _Where was I._**


	2. Chapter 1: Stains

Levi sat at his desk, head in his hands. Late afternoon sun filtered through the blinds, and dust particles filtered through the air in the sun, sparkling like snow. There were shelves of books coating the wall directly behind his desk, and a few pieces of furniture, as well as an area rug. The door was shut, and the desk was overflowing with paperwork. Hanje was doing some kind of research, he didn't know, but he and Erwin had trusted her enough to fund it. She had seemed excited. She said it was a breakthrough of some kind. She'd asked Levi if he had anything left of hers. She asked if Petra had left any belongings behind. _Only everything in the world._ He thought bitterly. He raised his head from his hands, frowning at the dust particles in the air, caught by the sun. If he had his way, there wouldn't be any there, but unfortunately they made up part of the composition of the air, which he sadly could not dust. Everything else in the room was spotless. It reminded him of the hideout in the underground he'd had when he was younger. Just thinking about it hurt, but he didn't regret joining the Survey Corps. He'd been in a bad place, clean or not. _What if I had something of Isabel's? Would Hanje have accepted that? No,_ He decided. _Hanje asked directly about Petra. If she wanted anyone, she would have asked for anyone's belongings._ The corporal sighed, glowering down at the paperwork on his desk. It was all Erwin's fault. All of his missions had been costly lately, and that gave him a lot of paperwork, just like it always did. Variants were showing up more frequently, and no one was sure when the next attack on the wall might happen. No one was at ease. Levi stood, pushing his chair back in and taking some wine off of one of the shelves, pouring a quick glass. He took a sip, looking out at the yard through the blinds. What he saw did not surprise him. Other members of the Survey Corps milling about, some tending to the horses, some cleaning, some walking and talking, others rushing to train. The schedule for training was a lot more lax now that no one was assured of their immediate safety, preferring to remain able to defend themselves at any time. _Fools._ He thought darkly, his emotions churning just below the calm surface, like a dark sea. _If we were to be attacked, none of them will be in shape. It will be a massacre._ Just as he made up his mind to go out there and tell them so, he noticed Hanje rushing excitedly to his door. He turned, just as she flung it open, a grin on her face, shock in her eyes and, big shock, flushed bright pink. It always happened whenever she was excited about science. _She certainly is an odd one._ Hanje was panting from the run, leaning in the doorway, gasping for breath.

"Le-Levi!" Hanje panted desperately.

"What is it now Hanje?" Levi asked with a severe lack of interest. Some of the other soldiers might humor her by pretending to be interested in her work, but Levi didn't care. He wasn't one for sparing others' feelings.

"It- It worked...She's-she's back." Levi's brow crinkled. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Who is back Zöe? Stop playing the pronoun game and spit it out." The Corporal remarked sharply. Hanje swallowed, regaining her breath.

"Petra, Levi. Petra is back." The glass slipped from Levi's hands, smashing on the floor, staining the carpet red.

 _ **He was zipping through the trees again, flying past on the 3D-MG, whizzing through the sky, in chase of the giant bimbo, the female titan. The mission was a disaster, his soldiers were dying left and right. As he flew, he passed a tree. Something about it made him look down. He blinked. There she was. Petra, flattened against a tree. Her spine was clearly broken, her chin rammed into the tree, the depression of a titan foot in her back. Blood spattered across her face, beside her eyes. The fire from days prior was gone, ripped from her body just as her soul had been ripped so clearly from her eyes. She was dead, and he hadn't been there. Completely, irreversibly, dead.**_


	3. Chapter 2: Dragged

Hanje froze in the doorway.

"uuuuuuuum…..uh…...Heichou?" Levi was frozen behind his desk, hand open, breathing deeply and quickly, trying to analyze what he just heard. _Joking. Hanje had to be joking. It was a cruel prank to pull, but still, would it be beyond her?_

"Uh, L-levi? You uh, you dropped something over there. On- on the carpet…." Hanje shifted from side to side nervously. It wasn't like Levi to drop things. Especially expensive or delicate things that could make a mess. He was trying to figure out if this was a joke.

"Hanje."

"Yes Levi?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me she's back."

"What?"

"Look me straight in the eye, and tell me that Petra is alive." Levi turned, his expression unreadable, looking Hanje dead in the eyes. Hanje laughed nervously. Levi scowled, and she stopped. She swallowed, and cleared her throat, shifting from foot to foot. Levi waited patiently. Hanje finally looked up meekly, meeting his eyes.

"Petra Ral is alive and well Corporal." After the words left her mouth, Hanje looked down at her feet, waiting for him to yell, to strike her, to do something. He was silent. There was a quiet clink of glass, and she looked up. Levi was clearing away the broken wine glass shards, standing up completely composed, and turning to her as he threw it away.

"Where is she now, Hanje?" Hanje started, jumping into action stepping outside the door.

"She's still in the lab. I was experimenting with titan regeneration capabilities and I figured it'd be better if it was someone we knew well so we could see if it worked." Levi rubbed his temples, sighing. _Don't question the logic, Hanje doesn't operate by logic. The current aim is to find out if Petra is alive again and where she is now._ Levi brushed himself off, walking to the door, gesturing out as he shut it behind him.

"Take me there." Hanje nodded eagerly, grinning from ear to ear, and started off towards her research tent at a quick trot. Levi rolled his eyes and followed suit. They drew close to the tent, and Hanje ripped the flap open, racing in. Levi slowed just outside the door, his hand hovering over the flap. _What if she isn't actually alive? What if Hanje were tricking him?_ _ **And what if she truly is alive?**_ Something inside him had to find out. It didn't matter anymore. He gripped the flap firmly, and ripped it open widely, stepping inside. His knees felt weak. Sitting on a table, smiling shakily, was Petra Ral. Member of the Survey Corps Special Operations Squad, enrolled beneath Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman, killed in an operation to capture the female titan. She was alive. Levi blinked, and took a shaky breath. She was really there. Hanje was standing at the back of the tent, anxiously smiling. Petra looked up at Levi, several emotions flashing across her face, landing on a sweet, sad smile.

"Heichou….I'm back…." Levi shook his head ever so slightly, his eyes wide. He couldn't believe what he saw. His head was full of buzzing rather than his normal composed thoughts, and he was on the verge of physically shaking. It wasn't possible, there was no way that this was really her, that she was back. He coughed, composing himself.

"Ral. Welcome back." Petra frowned slightly.

"You don't think this is real. I can tell." Levi blinked. Had he really been that easy to read? This was bad. He had gone into shock. He needed to calm himself down, even out his breathing.

"Hanje." He said sharply. He didn't need to finish the sentence. Hanje laughed nervously and ran from the tent, disappearing among the throng of soldiers outside. Levi and Petra were left alone, he standing in the door, her sitting on the table. Soldier and Captain. Levi cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair, eyeing hers. The way it shone in the little light, it seemed so real, but it couldn't be. He stepped forward, hand outstretched, and took her head in one of his hands, running it delicately up to her hairline, trailing it through. It was real. She was there. He felt burning behind his eyes, and swallowed. It felt as though there was something jagged in his throat, and when he spoke, his voice cracked.

"You're alive." Petra nodded, tears welling in her eyes, smiling sweetly.

"I'm back." Levi couldn't help it. Though his expression didn't change, a single tear ran down his face, and rolled off his chin, landing on his jacket. He blinked. That didn't normally happen. Suddenly, he looked up at Petra, and she threw herself at him, sobbing. She wrapped her arms around him, crying and pressing her face into him, holding him tightly. For once, he didn't object. He simply wrapped his arms around her delicately, and before he knew it, the Corporal was crying too.

"Welcome home Special Operations Soldier Ral." She gave a watery laugh, and he pulled away from her, drawing a handkerchief from a pocket, wiping her eyes. He brushed away his own tears easily.

"We should get you cleaned up. Come this way, I should have just the thing in my office." Petra smiled, and Levi gave a small smile to the ground. He was all serious when he looked up, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, leading a very watery, shaken Petra to his office.


	4. Chapter 3: Where You Belong

_So it had really happened. Hanje wasn't joking. She'd resurrected Petra Ral and was acting like it was just everyday science._ Levi had taken her into his office, and was now sitting at his desk, as Petra lay on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He observed her carefully. She seemed the same, as though nothing had happened. Could she remember it? Could she recall what it was like to die, the pain of her spine being stomped by that horrible bitch-

"Heichou?" Levi blinked, looking down at Petra again. She had turned her head towards him, and was waiting patiently for his reply.

"Yes Ral?" Petra frowned slightly, sitting up.

"Why do you keep calling me by my last name? I thought we were on a first name basis." Levi raised his eyebrows.

"Then why do you keep calling me Heichou?" Petra blushed embarrassedly.

"I didn't think of that. Force of habit I suppose." Force of habit she'd said. So she could still be influenced by her past life. So then maybe she could remember that horrible pain. Levi stood, walking over to the couch ans sitting down beside her, crossing his legs. He wasn't used to expressing feelings of any type, and he wasn't sure what to do. In her past life, he had never expressed direct affection beyond protecting her from Oluo, but that was all. He had noticed the way she had looked at him, but he wasn't sure how to express himself.

"Petra."

"Yes Heichou?"

"Can you still remember what happened to you? When you were killed, I mean." Levi internally punched himself in the face. He had always had a bit of a blunt, rude personality. Petra laughed quietly.

"I don't really know. I know that it was the female titan that killed me, but after I hit the tree I don't remember anything." Levi sighed. He needed to do something while he still could, but he was angry. Angry at himself for being so emotionally detached. Angry at Hanje for making Petra return. Angry at the soldiers outside for refusing to be ready. He had to do something, so it looked like he would be winging it. He placed his hand on top of hers gently, as though afraid of breaking her, looking straight into her eyes. Petra flushed slightly, looking back at him, unsure what to do.

"H-heichou?"

"There was so much I didn't get to say to you Petra. And while you're here, I plan on saying it." Petra's mouth opened slightly, and she couldn't say anything. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, hearing, feeling. Her heart raced. Levi wasn't moving, but he willed himself to. He pulled her close to him, his thoughts racing. He had wanted this so badly, he just couldn't believe that he was going to do it. Levi shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before he leaned forward and finally kissed her. Petra's heart stuck in her throat as she kissed him back. In the dying light, the two held each other close in a passionate embrace, and Levi said all that he needed to say without making a sound. They pulled away from each other, Petra giggling nervously.

"Levi I had no idea…." Levi raised a hand to silence her. Even after that he was as cold as usual. Levi stood, going to the bookshelf, stopping with his back to her. Petra's face fell.

"Heichou, why are you so upset." Levi shook his head.

"I'm not exactly upset Petra. More of, disappointed." Levi knew he wasn't being entirely truthful, but he wasn't upset. He was angry.

"Disappointed in what Heichou?" She'd gone back to calling him by his stupid title. He hadn't asked to be given that title, yet here she was, not knowing how else to address him. Levi sighed, turning back around.

"Disappointed in Hanje. You'd have to die again at some point, there's no way for you to keep living. That woman is playing god." Petra choked on nothing. The words burned. Levi could tell that it sounded as though he hated her, but it was truly the exact opposite.

"But, but Levi- Why? I thought you were happy to see me…." Petra looked down at the carpet, hot tears welling up in her eyes. Levi kneeled before her, lifting her face to meet his eyes.

"I'm thrilled that you're alive Petra. But you finally made it to heaven, and now Hanje's gone and dragged you all the way back to hell." It was too much. Petra started crying again. _She's so emotionally unstable._ Levi thought to himself as he dropped her head from his hand, standing again. He placed his hands on her waist, lifting her up onto her feet, leaning in and kissing her lightly again. He wiped the tears off of her face.

"It's going to be okay Ral. We'll get you where you belong."


End file.
